1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical connectors that employ rack and pinion means on a lever to mate and unmate male and female electrical connectors. This invention is also related to electrical connectors that are used to mate wire harnesses to electrical components mounted in boxes, such as are typically used in automotive and other applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIGS. 9 and 10 show a prior art rack and pinion electrical connector assembly as shown in DE 8714016 U. An electrical connector assembly of this type comprises a plug connector a that is matable with a pin header b, which has a shroud surrounding an array of printed circuit board pins. A rack and pinion and a lever c are used to supply a mechanical advantage when the two electrical connectors are mated or unmated. The rack d is located on the exterior surface of the plug connector a, which typically would include terminals attached to wires. The teeth forming the pinion e are located on the lever c so that the rack and pinion teeth intermesh as the lever is rotated about a pivot pin f, which is mounted in recesses on opposed side walls of the shroud surrounding the pins in the pin header b. Clockwise rotation of the lever c, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 unmates the two electrical connectors. It follows then that counterclockwise rotation of the lever c will mate the two electrical connectors.
Similar prior art electrical connectors employ a lever mounted on the plug connector with the teeth forming a rack being located on interior sidewalls of a mating shrouded pin header. Mounting the lever on the plug connector has certain advantages. Access to the lever is improved if the lever is mounted on the plug connector, which is typically inserted into the pin header that is part of a previously installed component housing. Unfortunately it becomes more difficult to mold the teeth on an interior wall of a shrouded pin header. Inwardly shifting side action tooling is one way in which these teeth can be molded, but this is a relative expensive approach.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,448 discloses one approach to simplifying fabrication of teeth on a rack that are engaged by teeth on a lever that is inserted between racks on opposing side walls. In that configuration each rack projects above the upper edge of the pin connector housing in substantially coplanar relationship with the respective side wall of the pin connector housing shroud. The teeth of each rack overhang the respective shroud side wall. Although these teeth are easier to mold, some side action of the mold tooling is necessary as the pin header is removed from the mold. Furthermore, although this approach can reduce the width of the pin header and the electrical connector assembly, the height of the assembly in increased. In many applications the height of the assembly is more critical than its width. For example, the height of the connector assembly can be critical in many automotive applications where a low profile is preferred to a bulky connector and wire harness configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,966 discloses a connector assembly in which the lever is mounted on a plug connector assembly to provide a relatively low profile assembly with a relatively narrow width. The rack teeth on this connector are located on the interior of the pin header shroud walls. However, in certain applications the pin header is part of a component housing, and often multiple pin headers need to be mounted on the same housing. When multiple pin headers are located in parallel relationship, it becomes very cumbersome to mold interior rack teeth in parallel relationship on separate side by side pin headers. One approach is to mold the rack teeth by inserting a pin through the sides of the header housing, but this approach does not lend itself to use with large components containing multiple headers. The instant invention provides a solution to this problem.
An electrical connector solving this problem would include a housing in which terminals are positioned. The connector also would include a lever rotatable relative to the housing to apply a mating and unmating force between the electrical connector and a mating electrical connector. The lever includes at least one gear tooth protruding laterally from a side of the lever so that the laterally protruding gear tooth can engage laterally spaced surfaces on the mating electrical connector.
The male electrical connector would be matable with and unmatable from a female electrical connector by rack an pinion means. The male electrical connector could include a lever rotatable relative to and mounted on the male connector housing. That lever would include pinion teeth for engaging laterally offset surfaces on a rack on the female electrical connector.
The two mating electrical connectors form an electrical connector assembly including rack and pinion mechanical assist means for mating and unmating the two electrical connectors. One electrical connector includes a molded housing defining a mating cavity in which at least part of another electrical connector is received when the two electrical connectors are mated. This molded housing includes oppositely facing and laterally offset rack surfaces exposed along the mating cavity.
The female electrical connector includes a molded housing and a plurality of terminals. The molded housing includes at least one side wall extending upward form a housing base with a plurality of gear members molded as part of an interior surface of the one side wall. Adjacent gear members are disposed one above the other relative to the housing base and laterally offset relative to each other in a direction perpendicular to the one side wall.